Method of making piston-rings.



. To all 'whom 'it may concern s'iiifriisv PATENT nonna? e. MQCLARY, or wnnnsrommissoiiin.

METHQD oF MAKING ris'roN-Briies.

Be itknown that I, Ronnn'r G. MGCLARY, a citizen of, the United States of America, a resident of Wellston, in St. `Louis county,` State of Missouri, have invented certain new and useful f Improvements in .Methods of4 Making PistonRings,' of which the :folloW 1."

ing is a full, clear, and exact. description,-V reference being had totlie accompanying drawing, forming apart oflthisfspecilication.

-My invention relates toimprovements in methods of making piston rings, the main object being to. produce'a simple, inexpen sive and highly efficient leak-proof piston Figure I is a plan view of the rin'g'as appears duringa preliminary stage of the process of manufacture.

Fig. III 4shows the ring,contracted and' arrangedin 'an annular holder.

Fig. IV is atransversesection, partly in elevation, Villustrating the finished ring applied to a piston and cylinder.

Fig. V is a plan View ofthe piston vand i the ring, the cylinder being shown in -sec. tion.

Fig. VI is an enlarged exaggerated view `showing portions of a piston and cylinder, und also showingthe tapered slit at one 'of the -sides of the ring.

Fig. VII is a transverse section of the finished ring, showing one of the yielding tongues and the recess in which the tongueis mounted. r

In making the new device, a solid ring is .slitted vas shown in Figs I and II. VA cirby a circular cuttingdevice moving in an across each side faceV of the rin 'at points ist ` cuate slits 2 can also be very easily formed arc of a circle. ,f

An elongated arcuate slit 2 Isl; formed o posite the respective end portions of the circumferential slit, so Ias to provide a' free tongue 3 at each side of the rlng. The ar- .'Specincation of Letters Patent.

ner, 'I produce a ton by a cutting device moving-"in arc of a circle. By(slitting 'a solid ring in this man?v prol li'icing tongues 13, at the same time i ential. center line ofv the ring,u jand Veach tongue 3 is uniform inwidth Athroughout its length. Howeve1,A the free endsof .the tongues are tapered Vso that they will yield more freely, for apurpose to be? hereinafter described.

When thering is slitted as shown in Figs. I andWII, the tongues 3 are vseparatedfroin l c Patented Autism,191s.; Application niedaugust 8,1917. sria1ii,1s5,is2..

A:00 tongue-receiving pockets at thesides'of'the. ring- .The slit 1 `is formed at th"c ircumfer each other at the circumferential slit l, :and

`the tapered ends of the tongues ar'esep.- rated from the mainv body of the ring atthef 4 transverse slits 2.

The next step consists in contractinglthe' ring and placing it in 'amannular holder A, asshown in Fig. III.` During the operation of contracting the rin the circumfer-g ence onf the ring 4is reduce ,and this is acf 'complished without bendin the free end portions of the tongues 3. .en the ring is in the condition shownin Fig. II, the

gap formed by each arcuate slit 2 is uniform in-width throughout its length', but ,if the ring is contracted without `changing the curvature -of the outer faces of tongues 3,

the slits 2 will not be uniform in width.

Myobject is. -to taper the slits 2, making them relatively `wide at the outer. circle of the ring, and this is vaccomplished by first contracting' the ring without bendin the free end portions of thejtongues 3, an thenV heating the contractedring lWhile it is conlined in the annular holder A. Thereafter,

the ring tends to remain in 'ihecondition shown 1n Fig. III.h i

When the ring is taken from the holder A,

the circumferential slit 1 may be closed by springing one of the tongues` 3 over the other tongue, 'L'. e., 'by reversing the relative posi tions of `said tongues 3, and then replacing the free endsof the tongues inthe recesses at 'the sides of the ring. The tem orary reversalof the relative positions o the free tongues distorts or bends the metal ring,l

thereby strainingthe metal, 4and when the es are restored to their proper relative positions they will contact with each other at the circumferential slit 1. By'springing the tongues in this'manner they will afterward remain. in engagement with each other at thelslit 1.. In so far as the present invenliio tion is concerned, the ringmay or may not be heated while the tongues are reversed to strainer bend the metal. Althoughsome advantage ma be gained by heating the `distortcd rlng, t e desired result could be obtained bymerely bending the metal solas to produce permanent molecular changes therein.

The faces of the ring may be finished in any suitable manner, and the ring is then ready-ff for service, the tongues B-being yieldinglyfiexliith each other at the slit 1,

` h 'n tapered as sho-Wn in `hen the ring is appl'ied "cylinder'C (Figs. I and 'bjlyclontracted so as to enslits 2".; After the ring is in and the slits 2 will then open Wn in `vFig. VI.4 Since these pered when the 'ring is in its condition, sa-id slits 2 can Y htly as shown in Fi VI, without ttingileakage across `t e ring. 4The iisv of fthe tapered tongues 3,tending' ith ' free were sprung inwardlytonter of the ring when the latter contracted and fitted to the cylinder. Therefore', the free, ends of the tongues Will Yremain in en agement with the body of the llngY (Fig. the slits 3.

' IA claim:-

1. The method of Ymaking piston rings which comprises forming a circumferential slit in the inner face of a ring, the ends "of the circumferential slit being formed only in the inner face of the ring and the intermedito prevent" leakage through ate portion of saidslit being. formed entirely through the ring,` forming elongated diagonal'slits across the'side faces of the ringat points oppositethe respective end portions of the circumfeijeiitial slit Sons Itoprovide a y free tapered tongue,- and a correspondingly shaped tongue-receiving recess at each side of-the ring, and contracting the ring s o. as to yieldingly force the `:freeend portion o`f each tapered tongue into engagement'with the adjacent inner wallkof the'recess;

, 2. The `method of making piston rings Whicheomprises forming a circumferential l slit in the inner face 'of a ring, the end porformed only in the inner Vtions of the circumfere tial slitv being ace of the ring time it',` will expand on ac` 'ing outwardly, will remain in' lcontactr the bodyportion ofthe ringafterthe'ff and the intermediate portion of said circumferential slit being formed entirely through the ring, forming elongated arcuate slits across the side faces f the ring at points oppositethe respective end portions of the circumferential slit so as to provide a free tapered tongue and a correspondingly Shaped recess at eachside of the ring, and contracting the 'ring so'as to yieldingly force the inner end portion of each tapered tongue into engagement with the 'adjacent face of the ring.

3. The method of making piston rings which comprises forming a vcircumferential i slit in the inner face of a ring, the end porthe end porformed only; in the inner face fof the ring and thegfinteirmediate portion ofsaid slit being formed-entirely through the ring, also formi'n arcuate transverse slits in the side faces o the ring at pointsopposite the respective end portions of the circumferential slit, thereby producing a pair of lapping cumferential slit and separated from the main body of the-ring at the arcuate trans'- verse slits,'oontract in g the ring so as to move '4. The method offiln'aking piston ringsl which comprises forming a circumferential slit in the inner-face of a' rin tions' of ,said circumferential' slit` being tongues separated from each other at the cir'- the arcuate face' of each tongue toward theA adjacent-arcuate face 'on the main body of the ring, the gap. betweenthe adjacent arcuy ate faces being tapered when the'. ring is thus contracted, heating the ring while it is in said. contracted condition, and springingone of the free tongues over the other so as tof," reverse the relative positions of the tongues,

thereby bending the. ring and thereafter freplacing sai-d tongues to close the circumfer-4 ential slit.

In testimony that'I claim the foregoingl hereunto ailxmy signature.

aoBERT c. inscri-llingf 

